The Emotional Purposes of a Funeral

For some funerals at funeral homes in Adelphi, MD, the obituaries will say that they are not having any kind of formal services for their deceased loved ones at their request. While it is up to each person to decide how they want their deaths to be memorialized, you should think about why funeral rituals exist before you ask your family not to have a service when you die.

One of the reasons for funerals is to acknowledge the life of someone who has died. When you ask your family not to have a funeral for you when you die, although you may not realize it, what you’re asking them to do is not to acknowledge your life.

Every life is important. Your life is important. You have made contributions to your family, to your community, and to the world around you. If you don’t have a funeral service, then it doesn’t give your family a chance to acknowledge the contributions that you’ve made throughout your life, in every area of your life.

Another reason for funerals is to allow people who love you to grieve together over your loss. Grieving is hard, but it’s not as hard when you’re surrounded by people who care, who want to comfort, who want to support you in that grief.

A funeral gives that environment so that your family can get the consolation and the sympathy that they need as they mourn your death. If you choose not to have a funeral, then you deprive your family of the support they need at a very vulnerable time after your death.

Funerals memorialize those who have died. What this means is that memories and stories of the person who is died get shared. The sharing of those stories and memories is etched in the minds of your loved ones as they remember who you were and what you gave them when you were alive.

If your family doesn’t have an opportunity to do this after your death, there can be a sense of emptiness and incompletion with regard to both your life and your death.

Closure is one of the most important parts of funeral rituals. While your family will never forget you, and the void that you leave behind is unfillable, a funeral will allow your family to accept the reality of your death and start on the journey forward in a life without you.

This is essential. You want your family to be able to process their grief in a healthy way, to move forward in a meaningful way, and to be able to accept your death without forgetting your life.

When there is no closure after someone dies, there can be emotional problems down the road. Your loved ones may experience complicated grief, which is a grieving process that can be prolonged over years and years. Your loved ones may also experience depression and they may not be able to ever fully process your death in a healthy way.

Finally, funerals let the extended group of people who know you, who care about you, and who love you pay their respects to you and offer their sympathy and condolences to your family. Funerals give your sphere of influence the chance to mourn your death as well, but also to be there to help take care of your family while they go through the grieving process.

If you’d like to know more about planning funerals at funeral homes in Adelphi, MD, you can talk with our knowledgeable team at Donald V. Borgwardt Funeral Home, P.A.